Date: 2026-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Martyrdom of the Holy Polycarp

Anonymous

Royal Archives

2026

Copyright

The modern English translation and the cover design are © 2026 Royal Archives. All rights reserved.

The underlying source text is in the public domain.

Published by Royal Archives

First published 2026

Translated by Royal Archives

Source: Μαρτύριον τοῦ ἁγίου Πολυκάρπου

Cover: The Greek Theatre, Taormina, Sicily by William Logsdail (British, 1859–1944), Wikimedia Commons, which is in the public domain.

Edition identifier: urn:royalarchives:martyrdom_polycarp:en:1

Introduction

The Author

The book that follows is unusual among the works of Christian antiquity in that it names no single author. It is a letter, and its author is a church. “The Church of God sojourning in Smyrna,” the opening line declares, writes “to the Church of God sojourning in Philomelium and to all the parishes of the holy and catholic Church in every place.” The voice throughout is the corporate “we” of a community that had watched one of its own die and now sets down, for the instruction of distant brethren, what its members saw. Near the close the letter identifies the hand that put it into words—“Evarestus, who wrote this with his whole household”—and the brother, Marcion, through whom it was carried. But Evarestus is a scribe and Marcion a courier; the account speaks for the whole congregation of Smyrna, and it is to that congregation, not to any individual, that authorship belongs.

The man at the center of the narrative is not its author but its subject: Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, whom the Church honors as a saint and martyr. He was among the last living men to have known the apostles in person. Irenaeus of Lyon, who as a boy had sat at Polycarp’s feet, remembered him as one who had been taught by the apostles and had “lived in familiar intercourse with many that had seen Christ”—above all with John, from whom, the early tradition holds, Polycarp received his charge as bishop of Smyrna. In him the apostolic generation reached almost to the middle of the second century. He corresponded with Ignatius of Antioch, who addressed a letter to him on the way to his own martyrdom in Rome; he traveled in old age to confer with Anicetus, bishop of Rome, over the date of Easter, and though the two could not agree they parted in peace and communion; and he was, by his own testimony at trial, a Christian of eighty-six years’ standing. When he says to the proconsul, “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong,” he is measuring a life that had begun, humanly speaking, within a generation of the crucifixion. The precise year of his death is disputed—the letter’s own subscription points to a Saturday in the mid-150s, while a later chronology of Eusebius set it in the 160s—but the difference of a decade touches nothing essential in the account.

The Work: Occasion and Purpose

The letter was written in the immediate aftermath of the event it records, while those who had been present were still alive to vouch for it. Its occasion was practical. The church of Philomelium, an inland town of Phrygia, had asked the Smyrnaeans for a fuller account of what had happened; the Smyrnaeans reply that they have set the matter down “in summary” and ask that the letter be forwarded onward “to the brethren further away.” What begins as a report to one congregation is thus consciously composed as a circular meant to travel the whole Christian world—one of the earliest instances of the churches sharing their memory across great distances as a single body.

But the letter is more than a bulletin. Its stated purpose is theological from the first sentence: to show, in Polycarp, “the martyrdom according to the gospel.” A wave of persecution had broken over Smyrna, and Christians had suffered horribly in the arena—scourged until their flesh was laid open, thrown to beasts, stretched on beds of spikes. The letter means to interpret these deaths, and Polycarp’s above all, not as catastrophe but as conformity to Christ. It also means to instruct. Woven through the account is a pastoral concern for how a Christian ought to meet persecution, and the letter is candid about the wrong way as well as the right. It holds up the noble endurance of the young Germanicus, who drew the beast upon himself rather than deny his faith; but it also records the cautionary case of Quintus, a man who pushed himself and others forward to court martyrdom of their own initiative, and then lost his nerve at the sight of the beasts and apostatized. “We do not commend those who give themselves up,” the Smyrnaeans write plainly, “since the gospel does not so teach.” True martyrdom, in their telling, is not sought but received—as Polycarp received it, waiting to be betrayed rather than surrendering himself, “just as the Lord also did.”

Argument and Structure

The letter unfolds as a single sustained narrative across roughly twenty chapters, framed by a salutation and closed by a dating subscription and a chain of scribal notes.

It opens (ch. 1–2) by announcing its theme—a martyrdom “according to the gospel”—and by praising the constancy of the martyrs already fallen, whose serenity under torture the writers read as a sign that “the Lord was standing by and conversing with them.” A brief diptych follows: the brave Germanicus, who strengthened the fearful by his own example (ch. 3), set against the apostate Quintus, whose self-appointed zeal collapsed (ch. 4). This contrast sets the moral coordinates for everything that comes after.

The narrative proper begins with Polycarp (ch. 5). Persuaded by his flock to withdraw, he retires to a farm outside the city, spending his days and nights in prayer; there he receives a vision of his pillow consumed by fire and understands, “I must be burned alive.” Betrayed at last by a servant under torture—the letter marks the parallel to Judas, and notes that the captain of the guard was named Herod (ch. 6–7)—he refuses a final chance to flee, saying, “The will of God be done.” He receives his captors with striking composure, sets food before them, and asks only for an hour to pray; he prays for two (ch. 7). Led into the city, urged by the officials to save himself with the words “Caesar is Lord,” he quietly refuses (ch. 8).

At the stadium comes the confrontation that is the letter’s dramatic heart (ch. 9–12). A voice from heaven—heard, the writers say, by the faithful present—bids him, “Be strong, Polycarp, and act like a man.” Before the proconsul he will neither swear by Caesar’s fortune nor revile Christ, answering with the words that have echoed ever since: “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong; and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” To the threat of fire he replies that the proconsul’s fire burns for an hour, while the fire of judgment is eternal. Denied the lion because the beast-hunts have closed, the crowd—“Gentiles and Jews dwelling in Smyrna”—clamors instead that he be burned alive, and so the vision of the burning pillow is fulfilled (ch. 12).

The execution itself (ch. 13–16) is narrated with deliberate liturgical weight. Polycarp asks not to be nailed but only bound, trusting God to hold him still; bound “like a distinguished ram” for sacrifice, he offers a long prayer of thanksgiving, blessing God for counting him worthy “to receive a portion in the number of the martyrs in the cup of your Christ.” When the pyre is lit, the flame arches around him “like a ship’s sail filled by the wind” without consuming him, and a fragrance as of frankincense rises; at last an executioner is ordered to stab him, and from the wound come a dove and a rush of blood that quenches the fire.

The letter closes by defending the honor due to the martyr (ch. 17–19). Opponents, at the urging of some of the Jews, press the magistrate not to surrender the body, “lest they abandon the crucified one and begin to worship this man”—a fear the Smyrnaeans answer with a careful distinction: Christ they worship as Son of God, while the martyrs they love “as disciples and imitators of the Lord.” The body is burned; the faithful gather the bones, “more precious than costly stones and more valuable than gold,” and lay them in a fitting place, where they resolve to assemble each year “to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom.” A dating subscription (ch. 21) fixes the day, and two appended colophons (ch. 22–23) trace how the text was copied and preserved.

Theological and Spiritual Significance

The abiding importance of the Martyrdom of Polycarp lies in the interpretation it gives to Christian death under persecution—an interpretation that would shape the Church’s mind for centuries. Its governing idea is imitation. Martyrdom “according to the gospel” means a death conformed to Christ’s, and the letter takes pains to draw the correspondences: Polycarp waits to be handed over rather than offering himself; he prays that God’s will be done; he is betrayed by one of his own household, whose captor bears the name of Herod; he enters the city seated on a donkey. The parallels are not forced allegory but a way of seeing—the conviction that in the martyr the Passion of Christ is made present again, and that the martyr suffers not alone but with the Lord standing by. This is why the earlier martyrs, under torture, seem to the writers “no longer men, but already angels.”

From this flows the letter’s careful theology of veneration, stated in what became a classic formula. Pressed by the charge that Christians would transfer their worship from the crucified Lord to the martyr, the Smyrnaeans reply: “For Him, being the Son of God, we worship, but the martyrs as disciples and imitators of the Lord we love worthily on account of their unsurpassable devotion to their own King and teacher.” The distinction between the adoration owed to God alone and the honor and love offered to the saints—later given the technical names of latria and dulia — is here already articulated, and articulated in the earliest such document the Church possesses. With it stands the earliest clear witness to the veneration of relics: the gathering of Polycarp’s bones as treasures more precious than gold, and their deposition in a place where the community would return.

Bound up with that gathering is a phrase of great consequence: the resolve to keep, year by year, “the birthday of his martyrdom.” The day of a martyr’s death is his dies natalis, his birth into eternal life—and the annual assembly at the tomb, “both for the remembrance of those who have already contended and for the training and preparation of those to come,” is the seed of the whole calendar of saints’ days that the Church would come to keep. Here, in a single sentence, is the origin of Christian hagiography and of the liturgical commemoration of the saints.

The letter’s language is, finally, deeply eucharistic. Polycarp is bound as a “ram” for a “whole burnt offering acceptable to God”; his prayer gives thanks for a share “in the cup of your Christ,” offered as “a rich and acceptable sacrifice”; the flame refines him “as gold and silver being refined in a furnace,” and his burning flesh smells not of death but of frankincense. The martyr’s death is presented as an offering laid upon an altar, the martyr himself as both priest and victim after the pattern of Christ. Read this way, the account is not merely a record of courage but a meditation on sacrifice—on how a human life, freely given, is taken up into the one sacrifice of the Lord.

Reception and Influence

Within two centuries the letter had become a treasured possession of the whole Church. Eusebius of Caesarea, writing his Ecclesiastical History in the early fourth century, reproduced long stretches of it as a document of unquestioned authority, and it is partly through him that its text is secured. More broadly, it founded a genre. The acta and passiones of the later martyrs—the deaths of Perpetua, of the martyrs of Lyon, of countless others—took their shape from it: the pattern of arrest, interrogation, refusal, and triumphant death, told for the edification of the churches, descends from Smyrna. So too does the practice the letter inaugurates, of assembling at the martyr’s grave on the anniversary of his death, which grew into the veneration of the saints across the whole Christian world.

Polycarp himself is honored East and West as a hieromartyr—a martyred bishop—and commemorated on the twenty-third of February. The concluding notes of the letter attach to him one further memory that fixed his place in the Church’s self-understanding: that when the heretic Marcion once demanded of him, “Recognise us, Polycarp,” the old bishop answered, “I recognise the firstborn of satan.” Whether or not the anecdote belongs to the original letter, it captures why the sub-apostolic Church held Polycarp so dear. He was a living link to the apostles and a guardian of the faith received from them, and his death set the seal on a life spent handing that faith on intact.

The Text and This Edition

The Martyrdom of Polycarp comes down to us in two channels. The first is a small family of Greek manuscripts, ranging from about the tenth to the thirteenth century, together with a Latin version; the second is the long excerpt embedded in Eusebius. The two do not agree in every particular—the dove that appears at the moment of Polycarp’s death, for instance, is present in the manuscript tradition but absent from Eusebius, and is generally taken to be a later scribal addition—but they confirm one another on the substance of the narrative, and the letter has long been reckoned among the most securely attested writings of the second century. The text carries its own remarkable account of how it was preserved: copied first by a certain Gaius from a manuscript that had belonged to Irenaeus, copied again by Socrates at Corinth, and finally recovered and transcribed by Pionius, who says the aged and nearly worn-out copy was made known to him through a vision of Polycarp himself. Whatever its historical value, this colophon is itself a moving witness to the care with which the early Church guarded the memory of its martyrs.

The present edition offers a fresh English translation made directly from the Greek text of the Smyrnaean letter as it stands in the received manuscript recension—the text established in Kirsopp Lake’s edition for the Loeb Apostolic Fathers, which prints the manuscript tradition against the Eusebian excerpts. It is an English rendering from the Greek, not a reprint of any earlier translation and not a bilingual or parallel edition; the older public-domain versions have not been reproduced. The aim throughout has been a readable modern English faithful to the plain, urgent voice of the original—a community’s testimony, not a literary artifact—while preserving the letter’s liturgical cadences where they carry theological weight, as in Polycarp’s final prayer.

The traditional chapter divisions of the letter are retained as the units of the text; the numbered headings are those divisions and not titles from the original, which had none. Scripture and other references follow the house convention of Arabic numerals. The letter is presented as the work of the church of Smyrna, with Polycarp named as its subject and saint rather than its author, and any who rendered or transmitted the text are credited as translators and scribes, never as authors—in keeping with the practice of this series, which receives each work and each holy figure as the Church has always received them. Belonging as it does to the undivided Church of the second century, the Martyrdom of Polycarp is the shared inheritance of all Christians, and it is offered here as such.

Κεφάλαιον 0

1 The Church of God sojourning in Smyrna to the Church of God sojourning in Philomelium and to all the parishes of the holy and catholic Church in every place: mercy, peace and love of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied.

Κεφάλαιον 1

1 We have written to you, brethren, concerning those who were martyred and blessed Polycarp, who, as it were, set a seal by his martyrdom and brought the persecution to an end. For almost all the things that went before happened in order that the Lord might show us from above the martyrdom according to the gospel.

2 For he waited to be betrayed, just as the Lord also did, that we too might become imitators of him, not looking only to what concerns ourselves, but also to what concerns our neighbours. For it is the mark of true and steadfast love not only to wish oneself to be saved, but also all the brethren.

Κεφάλαιον 2

1 Blessed indeed and noble are all the martyrdoms that have taken place according to the will of God. For we must be more reverent and ascribe to God the authority over all things.

2 For who would not marvel at their nobility and endurance and love of the Master? They endured being scourged so severely that the structure of their flesh was laid open even to the inner veins and arteries, so that even the bystanders pitied and lamented; and some even reached such a pitch of nobility that not one of them uttered a sound or a groan, showing to all of us that at that very hour, while being tortured, the most noble martyrs of Christ were absent from the flesh, or rather, that the Lord was standing by and conversing with them.[1]

3 And giving heed to the grace of Christ, they despised worldly tortures, purchasing eternal life through a single hour. And the fire of their cruel torturers was cold to them. For they kept before their eyes escape from the eternal and never-quenched fire, and with the eyes of their heart they looked up to the good things reserved for those who endure, which neither ear has heard nor eye has seen nor has it entered into the heart of man, but which were shown to them by the Lord, since they were no longer men, but already angels.

4 Likewise also those who were condemned to the beasts endured terrible punishments, being made to lie on sharp shells and punished with various other forms of tortures, so that, if it were possible, the tyrant might turn them to denial through prolonged punishment. For the devil devised many schemes against them.

[1] Translator’s note: οἰκονομίαν here refers to the physical structure/arrangement of the flesh

Κεφάλαιον 3

1 But thanks be to God; for he did not prevail against all. For the most noble Germanicus strengthened their timidity through the endurance that was in him; he also fought the beasts in a distinguished manner. For when the proconsul wished to persuade him and was telling him to have pity on his age, he forcibly drew the beast to himself, wishing to be released more quickly from their unrighteous and lawless life.

2 From this, therefore, all the crowd, marvelling at the nobility of the beloved of God and godly race of the Christians, cried out: Away with the atheists! Let Polycarp be sought!

Κεφάλαιον 4

1 But one man, named Quintus, a Phrygian recently come from Phrygia, when he saw the beasts, turned coward. Now this was the man who had forced himself and some others to come forward voluntarily. The proconsul, after much entreaty, persuaded him to swear and to offer sacrifice. For this reason, therefore, brethren, we do not commend those who give themselves up, since the gospel does not so teach.

Κεφάλαιον 5

1 Now the most admirable Polycarp, when he first heard, was not disturbed, but wished to remain in the city; but the majority persuaded him to withdraw. And he withdrew to a small farm not far distant from the city and stayed there with a few companions, doing nothing else night and day but praying for all and for the churches throughout the world, as was his custom.

2 And while praying he fell into a vision three days before his arrest, and he saw his pillow being consumed by fire; and turning he said to those with him: I must be burned alive.

Κεφάλαιον 6

1 And when those seeking him persisted, he moved to another small farm, and immediately those seeking him came upon the place; and not finding him they seized two young slaves, one of whom confessed under torture.

2 For indeed it was impossible for him to remain hidden, since even those who betrayed him were members of his own household, and the chief of police, who had been allotted the same name, being called Herod, hastened to bring him into the stadium, so that he might fulfil his own lot by becoming a partaker with Christ, while those who betrayed him should undergo the punishment of Judas himself.

Κεφάλαιον 7

1 Having the young slave, therefore, on the day of Preparation about the supper hour, mounted police and horsemen went out with their customary weapons as if running after a robber. And coming together late in the hour they found him lying in an upper room; and even from there he could have departed to another place, but he did not wish it, saying: The will of God be done.

2 So hearing that they were present, he came down and spoke with them, while those present marvelled at his age and his steadfastness, and wondered whether there was such eagerness to arrest such an elderly man. Immediately, then, he ordered food and drink to be set before them at that hour, as much as they wished, and he asked them to grant him an hour to pray without hindrance.

3 And when they gave permission, he stood and prayed, being so full of the grace of God that for two hours he could not be silent, and those who heard were amazed, and many regretted that they had come against such a godly old man.

Κεφάλαιον 8

1 And when at last he finished his prayer, having made mention of all who had ever met him, both small and great, both renowned and obscure, and of the whole catholic church throughout the world, the hour having come for departure, they seated him on a donkey and led him into the city, it being a great Sabbath.

2 And the chief of police Herod and his father Nicetes met him, and they transferred him to their carriage and tried to persuade him, sitting beside him and saying: For what harm is there in saying, Caesar is Lord, and offering incense and the things that follow, and so saving yourself? But he at first did not answer them, but when they persisted he said: I am not going to do what you advise me.[1]

3 And they, having failed to persuade him, spoke terrible words to him and hurled him down with haste, so that as he descended from the carriage he scraped his shin. And not turning back, as though he had suffered nothing, he went on eagerly with haste, being led into the stadium, there being such an uproar in the stadium that no one could even be heard.

[1] Translator’s note: ‘Lord’ capitalised in ‘Caesar is Lord’ as it is a direct quotation of the blasphemous formula being urged upon Polycarp

Κεφάλαιον 9

1 Now when Polycarp was entering into the stadium, a voice came from heaven: ‘Be strong, Polycarp, and act like a man.’ And no one saw the one who spoke, but those of our people who were present heard the voice. And then when he was brought forward, there was a great uproar when they heard that Polycarp had been arrested.

2 So when he was brought forward, the proconsul asked him if he was Polycarp. And when he confessed it, he tried to persuade him to deny, saying: ‘Have respect for your age,’ and other things in accordance with their custom, as they are accustomed to say: ‘Swear by the fortune of Caesar, repent, say: “Away with the godless.”’ But Polycarp, with a grave countenance, looked upon all the crowd of lawless Gentiles in the stadium, and waving his hand at them, and groaning and looking up to heaven, said: ‘Away with the godless.’

3 But when the proconsul pressed him and said: ‘Swear, and I will release you; revile Christ,’ Polycarp said: ‘Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong; and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?’

Κεφάλαιον 10

1 But when he persisted again and said: ‘Swear by the fortune of Caesar,’ he answered: ‘If you vainly suppose that I will swear by the fortune of Caesar, as you say, and pretend not to know who I am, hear with boldness: I am a Christian. But if you wish to learn the account of Christianity, appoint a day and listen.’

2 The proconsul said: ‘Persuade the people.’ But Polycarp said: ‘You I would have deemed worthy of an account; for we have been taught to render honour, as is fitting, to rulers and authorities appointed by God, such honour as does not harm us; but those I do not consider worthy that I should make a defence to them.’

Κεφάλαιον 11

1 And the proconsul said: ‘I have wild beasts; I will throw you to them, unless you repent.’ But he said: ‘Call them; for repentance from better things to worse is impossible for us; but it is good to change from what is evil to what is righteous.’

2 And he said again to him: ‘I will have you consumed by fire, if you despise the wild beasts, unless you repent.’ But Polycarp said: ‘You threaten the fire that burns for an hour and after a little while is quenched; for you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgement and eternal punishment that is reserved for the ungodly. But why do you delay? Bring what you will.’

Κεφάλαιον 12

1 Now as he said these things and many more besides, he was filled with courage and joy, and his face was filled with grace, so that not only did he not collapse, troubled by the things said to him, but on the contrary the proconsul was astonished, and sent his herald to proclaim three times in the midst of the stadium: ‘Polycarp has confessed himself to be a Christian.’

2 When this was said by the herald, the whole multitude of Gentiles and Jews dwelling in Smyrna cried out with uncontrollable rage and a loud voice: ‘This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods, who teaches many not to sacrifice or to worship.’ Saying these things they cried out and asked Philip the Asiarch to let loose a lion upon Polycarp. But he said it was not lawful for him, since he had brought the wild-beast hunts to a close.

3 Then it seemed good to them to cry out with one accord that Polycarp should be burned alive. For it was necessary that the vision which had been revealed to him concerning his pillow should be fulfilled, when he saw it burning while praying, and turning to the faithful who were with him, said prophetically: ‘I must be burned alive.’

Κεφάλαιον 13

1 These things, therefore, happened with such speed, more quickly than it was told, the crowds immediately gathering wood and brushwood from the workshops and baths, the Jews especially assisting eagerly in these things, as is their custom.

2 And when the pyre was prepared, having taken off all his garments and loosened his belt, he attempted also to remove his sandals, not having done this before because each of the faithful always eagerly sought who might more quickly touch his skin; for he had been adorned with every good thing on account of his good way of life even before his martyrdom.[1]

3 Immediately, therefore, the instruments fitted for the pyre were placed around him. And when they were about to nail him also, he said, ‘Leave me thus; for he who gave me to endure the fire will also grant me to remain unmoved on the pyre without your security from the nails.’

[1] Translator’s note: πολιτείας rendered as ‘way of life’ per glossary

Κεφάλαιον 14

1 So they did not nail him, but bound him. And he, having placed his hands behind him and having been bound, like a distinguished ram from a great flock for an offering, a whole burnt offering acceptable to God prepared, looking up to heaven said, ‘Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed child Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, the God of angels and powers and of all creation and of the whole race of the righteous, who live before you;[1]

2 I bless you, because you have counted me worthy of this day and hour, to receive a portion in the number of the martyrs in the cup of your Christ unto resurrection of eternal life both of soul and body in incorruption of the Holy Spirit; among whom may I be received before you today in a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as you prepared beforehand and revealed beforehand and fulfilled, the God who does not lie and is true.[2][3]

3 For this reason and for all things I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved child, through whom to you with him and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and unto the ages to come. Amen.[4][5]

[1] Translator’s note: πατήρ rendered as ‘Father’ per glossary

[2] Translator’s note: ποτηρίῳ rendered as ‘cup’ per glossary

[3] Translator’s note: ἀφθαρσίᾳ rendered as ‘incorruption’ per glossary

[4] Translator’s note: ἐπουρανίου rendered as ‘heavenly’ per glossary

[5] Translator’s note: ἀμήν rendered as ‘amen’ per glossary

Κεφάλαιον 15

1 And when he had sent up the amen and completed the prayer, the men of the fire lit the fire. And when a great flame blazed forth, we saw a marvel, we to whom it was given to see; and we were preserved in order to report to the rest the things that happened.[1]

2 For the fire, making the shape of a vault, like a ship’s sail filled by the wind, surrounded the body of the martyr like a wall; and it was in the midst not as burning flesh, but as bread being baked or as gold and silver being refined in a furnace. And indeed we perceived such a fragrance, as of frankincense breathing forth or of some other precious spices.[2]

[1] Translator’s note: εὐχήν rendered as ‘prayer’ per glossary

[2] Translator’s note: μάρτυρος rendered as ‘martyr’ per glossary

Κεφάλαιον 16

1 At length, when the lawless men saw that his body could not be consumed by the fire, they commanded an executioner to approach him and thrust in a dagger. And when he did this, there came forth a dove and a quantity of blood, so that it extinguished the fire and all the crowd marvelled that there was such a difference between the unbelievers and the elect;[1][2]

2 of whom this most admirable martyr Polycarp was one, having become in our times an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the catholic church in Smyrna. For every word which he uttered from his mouth both was fulfilled and will be fulfilled.[3][4][5][6]

[1] Translator’s note: ἀπίστων rendered as ‘unbelievers’ per glossary

[2] Translator’s note: ἐκλεκτῶν rendered as ‘elect’ per glossary

[3] Translator’s note: μάρτυς rendered as ‘martyr’ per glossary

[4] Translator’s note: διδάσκαλος rendered as ‘teacher’ per glossary

[5] Translator’s note: ἐπίσκοπος rendered as ‘bishop’ per glossary

[6] Translator’s note: καθολικῆς rendered as ‘catholic’ per glossary

Κεφάλαιον 17

1 But the jealous and envious and evil one, the adversary of the race of the righteous, seeing both the greatness of his martyrdom and his blameless way of life from the beginning, and that he was crowned with the crown of incorruption and had carried off an undisputed prize, contrived that not even his little body should be taken by us, though many desired to do this and to have fellowship with his holy flesh.

2 So he prompted Nicetes, the father of Herod and brother of Alce, to petition the magistrate not to give up his body. ‘Lest,’ he said, ‘they abandon the crucified one and begin to worship this man.’ And they said these things at the suggestion and insistence of the Jews, who also kept watch when we were about to take him from the fire; not knowing that we shall never be able to forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of those who are being saved in the whole world—the blameless one on behalf of sinners—nor to worship any other.

3 For Him, being the Son of God, we worship, but the martyrs as disciples and imitators of the Lord we love worthily on account of their unsurpassable devotion to their own King and teacher; of whom may it be granted to us also to become companions and fellow-disciples.

Κεφάλαιον 18

1 So the centurion, seeing the contentiousness that had arisen among the Jews, placed him in the midst and burned him, as was their custom.

2 And so we later took up his bones, more precious than costly stones and more valuable than gold, and laid them away in a suitable place.

3 There the Lord will grant us, as we gather together in gladness and joy as far as possible, to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom, both for the remembrance of those who have already contended and for the training and preparation of those to come.

Κεφάλαιον 19

1 Such are the things concerning the blessed Polycarp, who, though the twelfth to be martyred in Smyrna together with those from Philadelphia, is alone remembered more by all, so that he is spoken of even by the Gentiles in every place; having become not only a distinguished teacher, but also an outstanding martyr, whose martyrdom all desire to imitate, it having been according to the gospel of Christ.

2 Having through endurance overcome the unrighteous ruler and thus received the crown of incorruption, he now rejoices with the apostles and all the righteous, glorifying God and the Father Almighty and blessing our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of our souls and Helmsman of our bodies and Shepherd of the catholic Church throughout the world.

Κεφάλαιον 20

1 You indeed requested that the things that happened be made known to you in greater detail, but we for the present have reported them in summary through our brother Marcion. Therefore, when you have learned these things, send the letter on to the brethren further away, that they also may glorify the Lord who makes choices from among His own servants.

2 Now to Him who is able to bring us all in His grace and gift into His heavenly kingdom through His only-begotten Child Jesus Christ, be glory, honour, might, and majesty unto the ages. Greet all the saints. Those who are with us greet you, as does Evarestus who wrote this with his whole household.

Κεφάλαιον 21

1 Now the blessed Polycarp suffered martyrdom on the second day of the month Xanthicus, seven days before the kalends of March, on the great Sabbath, at the eighth hour. And he was arrested by Herod when Philip of Tralles was high priest, when Statius Quadratus was proconsul, but when Jesus Christ was reigning forever; to whom be glory, honour, majesty, and an eternal throne from generation to generation. Amen.

Κεφάλαιον 22

1 We pray that you may fare well, brothers, walking according to the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to God and the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of the holy elect, even as the blessed Polycarp suffered martyrdom, in whose footsteps may we be found in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

2 These things Gaius copied from the writings of Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, who also lived together with Irenaeus. And I, Socrates, wrote them in Corinth from the copies of Gaius. Grace be with all.

3 And I again, Pionius, wrote them from what was written before, having sought them out, according to a revelation of the blessed Polycarp who made them known to me, as I shall declare in what follows, having gathered them together when they were already almost worn out by time, that the Lord Jesus Christ may also gather me together with his elect into his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Κεφάλαιον 23

1 These things Gaius copied from the writings of Irenaeus, who also lived together with Irenaeus, having become a disciple of the holy Polycarp.

2 For this Irenaeus, being in Rome at the time of the martyrdom of the bishop Polycarp, taught many; and many most excellent and most orthodox writings of his are extant, in which he makes mention of Polycarp, that he learned from him, and he thoroughly refuted every heresy and handed down the ecclesiastical and catholic rule, as he received it from the saint.

3 And he also says this: that when Marcion, from whom come the so-called Marcionites, once met the holy Polycarp and said, ‘Recognise us, Polycarp,’ he himself said to Marcion, ‘I recognise, I recognise the firstborn of satan.’

4 And this also is recorded in the writings of Irenaeus, that on the day and hour when Polycarp suffered martyrdom in Smyrna, Irenaeus, being in the city of the Romans, heard a voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Polycarp has suffered martyrdom.’

5 From these writings of Irenaeus, therefore, as has been said before, Gaius copied them, and from the copies of Gaius, Isocrates copied them in Corinth. And I again, Pionius, wrote them from the copies of Isocrates according to a revelation of the holy Polycarp, having sought them out, having gathered them together when they were already almost worn out by time, that the Lord Jesus Christ may also gather me together with his elect into his heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Colophon

The Martyrdom of the Holy Polycarp
by Anonymous.

This edition was produced by
Royal Archives.

The cover features
The Greek Theatre, Taormina, Sicily
by William Logsdail (British, 1859–1944), Wikimedia Commons, which is in the public domain.

The text is set in Palatino and Georgia. Polytonic Greek is set in SIL Gentium.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
August 25, 2026.

Table of Contents

- Title Page
- Copyright
- Introduction
- Κεφάλαιον 0
- Κεφάλαιον 1
- Κεφάλαιον 2
- Κεφάλαιον 3
- Κεφάλαιον 4
- Κεφάλαιον 5
- Κεφάλαιον 6
- Κεφάλαιον 7
- Κεφάλαιον 8
- Κεφάλαιον 9
- Κεφάλαιον 10
- Κεφάλαιον 11
- Κεφάλαιον 12
- Κεφάλαιον 13
- Κεφάλαιον 14
- Κεφάλαιον 15
- Κεφάλαιον 16
- Κεφάλαιον 17
- Κεφάλαιον 18
- Κεφάλαιον 19
- Κεφάλαιον 20
- Κεφάλαιον 21
- Κεφάλαιον 22
- Κεφάλαιον 23
- Colophon